Encyclopedia of Anti-Revisionism On-Line

Finsbury Communist Association

An Open Letter to the Albanian Party of Labour

First Published: August 1977. Transcription, Editing and Markup: Paul Saba Copyright: This work is in the Public Domain under the Creative Commons Common Deed. You can freely copy, distribute and display this work; as well as make derivative and commercial works. Please credit the Encyclopedia of Anti-Revisionism On-Line as your source, include the url to this work, and note any of the transcribers, editors & proofreaders above.

We refer to your statement published in Zeri i Populit on July 7th, 1977. Quotations are from extracts in THE WORKER, organ of the Communist Party of Britain (M-L).

“At present, there is a great deal of talk about the division of the world into the so-called ’first’, ’second’, and ’third’ worlds”.

The theory of this division was first put forward by the Communist Party of China. Surely that is a point worth mentioning?

“All these terms, which refer to various political forces acting in the world today, cover up and do not bring out the class character of these political forces, the fundamental contradictions of our epoch, the key problem which is predominant today on a national and international scale, the ruthless struggle between the bourgeois-imperialist world on the one hand, and socialism, the world proletariat and its natural allies on the other.

“To speak in general terms about the so-called ’third world’ as the main force of the struggle against imperialism and the revolution (sic), without making any distinction between the genuine anti-imperialist and revolutionary forces and the pro-imperialist, reactionary and fascist forces in power in a number of the developing countries, means a flagrant departure from the teachings of Marxism-Leninism”.

Who is to distinguish between the “genuine” and the “reactionary” forces, Enver? You? This one is kindly permitted to oppose the superpowers? That one is forbidden?

“The objective conditions are becoming ever more favourable for the revolution in the developed capitalist countries. There the proletarian revolution is now a problem taken up for solution.”

True. 1) Because People’s China is leading the Third World against the imperialists 2) Because China’s strategy is isolating the superpowers. This enables the proletariat to raise the banner of independence and national sovereignty.

“Whoever ’forgets’ that both thee Warsaw treaty and NATO must be combated, that both the Comecon and the Common Market must e rejected, takes their side and becomes their slave”.

Comecon includes the Soviet Union. Why compare it with the Common market, which includes neither Russia or the USA? Or are you opposed to the strategy of isolating the superpowers?

Since you have raised some questions we shall raise some questions with you.

A comrade wrote to you in 1963 for political literature. You sent the History of Albania up to 1911. No mention of Enver Hoxha’s “heroic stand” at the 1960 Moscow Conference, which was not to see the light of day for 14 years.

In 1964 a representative of Zeri i Populit asked our comrades why there had not been a revolution in Britain yet.

In 1967 you shifted Stalin’s statue from the main square, replacing it by a statue of a mediaeval national hero named Skanderberg.

We hope your bookshops are not so dusty and ill-frequented now as in 1967; and that your people now have a more correct idea of the outside world than they did then.

You recognise a number of Marxist-Leninist parties, including the Communist Party of Britain (Marxist-Leninist). You gave them free publicity over Radio Tirana to the exclusion of all other Marxist-Leninists. You bribe their members and potential members with free holidays in Albania. The working class of Britain is proud, just as proud as the Albanian working class. It will decide it’s own leadership, without pressure from abroad and particularly without bribes.

You send us a New Year’s card each year. The thought is appreciated, but why is the greeting in English, French, Spanish, Russian and Albania? There is plenty of space on the card for greetings in the languages of some oppressed nations. Or do you fancy yourselves as a baby superpower?

Finally, Enver Hoxha and comrades, may we urge you to return to the path of Marxism-Leninism, represented at this time by the strategy mapped out by the Communist Party of China and her comrades and friends throughout the world? The CPC will not, we are sure, force upon you the humiliating treatment you have attempted to force upon the Marxist-Leninists of Europe for the past ten years.